this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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As a disabled person, I face ableism and ableist language every day. Some people use ableist language without even knowing that it is ableist. I thought it would be good for folks to take a look at the attached BBC article and expand their perspectives a bit.

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[–] Endorkend@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

Intent is everything and if someone is clearly not using a word with the intent to offend you, you being offended is a YOU problem, not a them problem.

And before you go say shit like able people can't know how bad it feels.

1, I'm not "abled".
2. I've had people call me these words meaning to offend and hurt me. THAT actually does hurt. These words being used without any intention to hurt or offend anyone, doesn't matter to me at all.

And sometimes, using those words to offend is perfectly appropriate to express what you want to convey.

Like how many Americans have absolutely retarded levels of overblown reactions with a word like cunt.

[–] Ransom@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Intent is actually not everything. Legally speaking, if I run over a person with a car and they die, I can’t get away with it by saying, “well, I didn’t intend to kill them, so there shouldn’t be a consequence”. The impact of that person’s death is greater. It’s not murder, but it’s still manslaughter.

Ableist language is the same: it still causes harm, but obviously not harm to the body.

[–] Sir_Osis_of_Liver@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are a lot of two vehicle, or pedestrian, traffic fatalities that don't result in manslaughter charges.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8973010/man-lying-in-road-hit-car-killed-comox-valley-rcmp/

To date, no charges have been laid.

Intent is huge.

[–] Ransom@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

Even if no charges are laid, someone is dead. The intent to kill wasn’t there, but the impact is that someone is dead. It doesn’t matter if a person didn’t mean to kill someone, but again, someone is dead.

This is why impact matters far more than intent. This is an extreme example, but it still applies in all situations. Someone might want to argue their way out of offending someone else, but the damage has already been done.

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